Date Night
by happywanderer2
Summary: Shikamaru usually finds that it is easier and less annoying just to go with the flow where Temari is concerned. That is until he finds himself in a very bothersome predicament.


Shikamaru usually finds that it is easier and less annoying just to go with the flow where Temari is concerned. That is until he finds himself in a very bothersome predicament. Rated 13+(T) for language. I did not create these characters but it sure is fun to make them do crazy stuff.

Date Night

The young man walked along the sandy street, pausing once or twice to consult his directions. Soon enough he reached his destination; a nice house, set back from the main street. He paused on the door step and his eyes drifted up to the cloudless sky.

Of course there are no clouds, he thought, clouds mean moisture and one thing this place does not have is moisture.

He continued to contemplate the sky, trying to figure out just _how _he had ended up here. Maybe because he'd become a chunin with teaching responsibilities. No, no that had brought a bunch of people to the Sand village to help set up a new training program. No reason to single him out for that. Maybe because he'd been involved in a couple of missions with shinobi from the Sand, but again, he had not been alone. No one else from either of those missions was here. No, no this could all be traced back to those damn chunin exams. Exams where he had lost (to a girl, talk about adding insult to injury) but still been promoted. That's where it had all started. He'd run his mouth off at some girl, a seriously scary girl as it turned out, and now he was at her door step.

Shikamaru rocked back on his heels and sighed. No clouds at all, how was a guy supposed to let his mind drift in a place like this?

"Hey, Nara, any chance you might come in soon? You're almost late and I can guaran-damn-tee you that Temari doesn't tolerate tardiness in anyone."

Shikamaru twitched in surprise when he saw the face that went with the rough voice. He'd seen that face earlier in the day, but it had been carved on a stone pillar, and the owner was supposed to be dead. He blinked and the answer came to him.

Well, that might explain a few things, he thought.

"Hey, Kankuro. How's it going?"

The Sand shinobi grunted and gestured for Shikamaru to enter the house. He took off his sandals and followed Kankuro down a hallway. They ended up in a nice sitting room. Kankuro gestured for their visitor to take a seat on a couch.

"Hey, Temari, he's here," he yelled down another hallway.

An indistinct reply floated back to them. Kankuro grunted again and joined Shikamaru, dropping into a chair and putting his feet up on a table. There were several books piled on the table, it seemed that Kankuro had been reading while he waited.

Shikamaru frowned. Why was Kankuro waiting for him? There had been considerable speculation among the younger Leaf shinobi as to why the puppeteer dressed the way he did and what he looked like under the hood and purple lines on his face. Now Shikamaru knew the answer to the question of what he looked like; the purple was not a tattoo, he was not hiding any scars, acne, or horrible disfigurements. Shikamaru thought that Ino would start to drool the second she saw the puppeteer like this.

"What? Is there a problem?"

"Huh? Ah, er, no. No problem."

Shikamaru realized that he had been staring. He flicked his eyes away to the pile of books on the table. An assortment of titles jumped at him, everything from chemistry to calligraphy.

"Umm, so did you read all of those?"

Shikamaru gave himself a mental kick in the behind. What a stupid question.

Kankuro's expression indicated that he thought it was stupid too.

"What do you think? Shit, I thought you were supposed to be smart. And to answer the questions going through your head right now…it's not make up, it's not a cat suit, it's traditional to all puppeteers, and yes I look like the Fourth Kazekage. Got a problem with any of that?"

"Nope, no problem at all."

Kankuro snorted and his gaze flicked over Shikamaru's head, "Finally ready?"

Shikamaru looked over his shoulder and then stood up, his jaw dropping. It was Temari and she looked beautiful. She was wearing a nice kimono and she had her hair done differently; her ponytails had been replaced by an elegant twist, and tonight she was the one wearing makeup. She was not wearing much, just enough to bring out her eyes and add some colour to her cheeks.

Shikamaru swallowed and tugged at his vest. All of a sudden he felt underdressed and very out of place. Temari had ordered him to come and eat with her. But this was something else entirely. This was…

"So can we get this show on the road? C'mon Temari, tell your date to stop drooling."

"Date?!" Shikamaru's voice was high and strained.

Kankuro snorted out a laugh, "Well, yeah." He looked at his sister. "What the hell Temari?"

"But…she told me to come here so we could have dinner. That's not a date. The guy is supposed to…"

"Oh don't start with that stupid stuff," Temari said. "I asked you out. Here you are. It's simple."

"You didn't know?! You just came because she ordered you? I knew you Leaf shinobi were too easygoing, but this is too much," Kankuro was laughing and slapping his knee.

"Kankuro," Temari said in a low voice. She shot him a look that would have made Shikamaru run for the hills had he been on the receiving end.

Shikamaru frowned, "What's with all this '_we_' stuff? If this is a date, and I am not saying that it is, then it is just the two of us. Right? 'Cause I am not into anything…you know…"

Kankuro started to howl. Temari advanced on her brother, pulling a fan out of her sleeve. Before he could do anything, she had whacked the side of his head with it. Kankuro yelped, but kept on laughing.

Shikamaru winced. This was one dysfunctional family, he thought.

Temari raised the fan again and Kankuro held up one hand. He stifled his laughter.

"Alright, alright, but hell, it's funny. Look Nara, you just aren't my type and you had better not be suggesting anything else weird. I'm going as your chaperone. Not quite sure who I have to worry about protecting though."

"Chaperone?"

"Well, yeah." Kankuro wiped at his eyes. "I could go get Gaara if you prefer."

"No, no," Shikamaru said quickly.

"Good call," Kankuro grinned.

"Why not someone older…like Baki?"

"He's at that meeting tonight. With the other jounin who are visiting from your village. It's just us lowly chunin."

"Oh."

"Hey, wasn't my idea." Kankuro shrugged. "Believe me I've got much better things to do with my time."

"Oh, pfft, like what? If you weren't doing this you'd be hanging out in that filthy work shop mooning over those creepy puppets or sitting in the library with you head in some book."

"It's not filthy, they're not creepy, and I don't moon. And as for the reading…like I said, I've got better things to do."

Temari sighed, "I'd prefer that it was Baki too, but…" she pointed her fan at Kankuro, "You aren't going dressed like that."

Kankuro was wearing black trousers and a black shirt. A mesh shirt showed at the V of his shirt collar and at his wrists. Shikamaru wondered if maybe he was wearing a little make up too, just around the eyes.

"What's wrong with it? It's pretty much what he's wearing, minus the vest."

Temari turned her disapproving stare on Shikamaru. She expelled a breath, making that discontented, disapproving, judgmental, men-are-such-morons noise that all women over the age of twelve seemed to be able to make.

"Go and change. We don't want to be late and lose our reservation."

"Reservation?! But…wait…I don't," Shikamaru grimaced. This was bad, just so bad. He probably didn't have enough money to pay for dinner for himself, let alone another person. But he was not going to admit that, no way.

"Heh, little short on cash Nara? Don't worry, the meal's covered. Compliments of the Sand for that helping hand you gave us not so long ago." Kankuro's lip lifted into the familiar sneer. "Helping hand, what a joke. All you morons did was get in the way."

Kankuro scooped a book off the table, "Let's go."

"Wait a second. You're not taking a book."

"Oh yes I am. Like hell I am just going to sit there all evening watching you two make eyes at each other."

"Kankuro," Temari narrowed her eyes, "you are not taking a book. You will look presentable and you are going to behave properly; no making faces, no swearing, and no getting into fights. Remember what Baki said."

"I know, I know. Two weeks of sparring with Gaara if I cause any trouble," Kankuro grimaced. "I'm almost tempted to just take that punishment you know."

"Gaara will be the least of your worries if you screw this up. Go and change. And see if you have anything that fits him."

"What?! Oh hell no!"

"No damn way," Shikamaru said at the same moment.

"Use your eyes Temari. My clothes would be way too big for this shrimp." An evil grin spread across his face. "Now Gaara might have…"

"No!" Temari and Shikamaru exclaimed simultaneously.

Shikamaru sighed and let his eyes drift away towards the entrance and freedom. By his calculations, there were eight options available to him at this moment, five involved going to dinner and three would allow him to escape. He weighed each option looking for the one that would need the least amount of effort and cause the least trouble. He was dismayed to realize that escaping was out of the question, all he could do was take steps to minimize the length of time he spent in this nightmare. First he had to deal with the clothing issue. A tactic that his father used came to mind.

"It doesn't matter what Kankuro and I are wearing Temari, everyone will be looking at you."

It just sounded so lame, but it must have worked. Temari stopped arguing with her brother and looked at Shikamaru, a blush rising in her cheeks.

Temari's mouth worked and then she said, "Let's just go. Remember what I said Kankuro."

She walked down the hallway to the front entrance. Kankuro tucked his book into his shirt. He was watching Shikamaru, one eyebrow raised.

"Pretty slick Nara. Maybe I do have to keep an eye on you after all."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, like Temari needed any protection. All he wanted to do was get to the restaurant, eat, and then get away from these two as fast as possible.

He sighed.

Kankuro grinned, "Go on, say it. You know you want to."

"This is so troublesome."

Shikamaru had limited experience with nice restaurants. His family did not go out and when he went out with his friends they picked places that put quantity before quality to keep Choji happy. Still, even he could tell that it was a very nice place.

A waitress showed them to their seats. Shikamaru and Temari sat down in a booth. Kankuro flopped into a booth across from theirs.

The waitress returned, took their orders, and left. Shikamaru reevaluated the situation. It looked like Kankuro was going to leave them alone. He had ordered and then opened up his book, ignoring Temari's annoyed hiss. That was both good and bad; it meant that Shikamaru was not going to have to deal with the puppeteer and his insults but it also meant that he would have to talk to Temari. She was certain to expect conversation and would get annoyed if there was none. And Temari would not only want conversation, she would want intelligent conversation.

It was too bad that Temari was not more like Ino. Ino could yammer on forever; all he and Choji ever had to do was grunt from time to time. On the other hand, since Temari was not like Ino, Shikamaru would not have to listen to some girl talk on and on about the most annoying things.

Shikamaru sighed; this was way too much work for a free meal. He fiddled with his place setting, making minute adjustments to the already perfect alignment. What would be a good start? Was work an acceptable subject?

"So, ah, what to you think about this project so far? Are our training methods that different from yours?"

"Too soon to say, but I think it has potential."

A wave of relief washed over Shikamaru as Temari went on about what she liked and did not like about the project. She had many opinions, both positive and negative, and Shikamaru got to hear them all as they waited for their meal. He had made a good choice, he hardly had to talk at all, and most of what Temari had to say was somewhat interesting.

When Temari came to a halt, Shikamaru had another question ready. He hoped it would keep her going until their food arrived. And he was genuinely curious to know the answer.

"You guys were trained as a team though, right? That's different from the way the Sand has done things until now. Why was that?"

"We were an experiment of sorts. Our father knew about the Leaf's methods and wanted to try them out. So he chose us. And," Temari's eyes wandered to where her brother was sitting, "he hoped that it would keep Gaara under control. You know, before…"

"Oh."

Shikamaru thought that it was pretty cold of the Fourth Kazekage to treat his kids that way. Bad enough that he had used his youngest kid as a vessel for the one-tailed demon, but then he had made his other kids deal with the demon every day. Shikamaru could not imagine having to go on missions while having to deal with the possibility that your own brother might snap and kill you at any time.

"In the end it worked. Baki was a big help. I actually trained with his sister. I lived with her when I was younger."

Temari's gaze flicked in her brother's direction again. Shikamaru realized what she had left unsaid. She had lived with Baki's sister and Kankuro had lived with Gaara. A shiver ran up Shikamaru's spine; he did not even want to try to imagine what that must have been like.

Temari looked up, "This looks like our food."

Shikamaru heaved a sigh of relief that had been awkward. It was probably best to spend a lot of time chewing so he would not have to talk at all.

The food was good, maybe not as good as his mother's cooking, but Shikamaru had no complaints. After all it was free and Temari was actually a decent companion when she was not hurling insults or blasts of wind at you. Shikamaru was starting to think that the evening might turn out to be tolerable. After the meal, he would be expected to take a walk with Temari somewhere and then see her home. Sure, Kankuro would be trailing along behind them, but so far he had been silent and appeared ready to stay that way. There would be one or two snide comments when he dropped Temari off, but Shikamaru could deal with that.

Shikamaru was deciding whether or not to order a dessert (it would mean staying longer, but the selection looked promising) when a group of young men wandered past their table. They were well dressed, Shikamaru guessed they were either nobles of some sort or the sons of well off merchants. Most of the group passed by without giving them a glance, but one or two cast appraising glances at Temari. One guy actually stopped, looking Temari and Shikamaru over and then taking an even longer look at Kankuro.

Shikamaru swallowed hard, mentally urging the guy to be on his way. He was close, just oh so close, to being out of here.

There was a soft thump, Kankuro had closed his book. He leaned back in his seat and stared back at the guy.

"Is there a problem?" his voice was soft but menacing.

Temari shot her brother a warning glance.

The guy sniffed, looking down his nose at the Sand shinobi. Then he moved on and caught up with his companions.

"I'm starting to wonder about this place. Did you see the trash they let in here? I can't believe that they let that demon coddling doll lover in."

Kankuro started to slide out of his booth, his face dark with anger.

"Don't even think about it!" Temari hissed.

Shikamaru watched the group return to their table. The guy who had made the comment was watching them, a smug expression on his face. He made some comment to the group and they all laughed.

"Kankuro, just let it go for once. You're attracting attention. We'll be leaving soon. We've had a nice quiet evening, so don't spoil it. Please."

Something in her tone, or maybe the fact that Temari had used the word please caused Kankuro to stop.

"If you think I am going to let that asshole…"

"You know it only makes it worse when you get into fights. So I'm asking you again, just ignore him."

Kankuro took a deep breath and eyed the group. He took another breath and relaxed.

"Alright, if that's an order."

"It's not an order Kankuro, it's a request. From your sister."

Kankuro snorted, he slid back into the booth, "Probably just as well. Nara might have seen blood and fainted."

"Kankuro!" Temari shook her head, but she was smiling a little. "Thank-you."

"Humph!" Kankuro opened his book again.

"…it's a sure sign that this village is failing. Now they've even had to resort to whoring out the kunoichi to keep the Leaf happy. Wouldn't want to touch anything that's been near that creature myself, but maybe the Leaf aren't all that particular."

Temari went red and ducked her head down. The guy's voice had been pitched to carry across the restaurant. Shikamaru frowned, he knew that some people did not like shinobi, but this was ridiculous. Temari was hunched down in her seat and looked miserable. It was completely unlike her usual confident demeanor. It reminded him of how Choji used to act when he was little and got fed up with all the teasing. Shikamaru could never understand why some people could not just live and let live. He felt a burning sensation start in his gut; this was beyond annoying. He looked at Temari. She did look very nice this evening and just a few minutes ago things had been going just fine. Shikamaru sighed; it was probably a mistake but…

"Un-fucking-forgivable!"

"Kankuro, no!"

Kankuro had taken two or three steps away from the table when there was a crash on the other side of the restaurant. Their tormentor had fallen over. His feet had just shot out from under him.

"Kankuro!"

The puppeteer shook his head, "Wasn't me. I was going to beat the asshole's head in."

He came back to the table, a grin spreading across his face, "It was him."

Shikamaru brought his hands from under the table, "Some people are just too annoying."

"What?!"

There was another crash. The table had overturned, pinning the guy to the ground. Food and dishes flew everywhere. Waiters and customers rushed over to help.

"Now _that_ was me."

Temari groaned.

"Maybe we should go before they realize what happened," Shikamaru suggested.

Kankuro put some money on the table and they hurried out of the restaurant.

"Do you know those guys?" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't. How about you Kankuro? That one guy seemed to know you."

"I've seen a couple of them before, but I don't know their names. Sons and nephews of council members. Members who represent interests of the daimyo. Morons."

Shikamaru was not sure if he was talking about the council members or the guys in the restaurant.

"So this will cause trouble. Kankuro I told you…"

"I didn't start it."

"You never do…"

"There was no excuse for what he said about you. None." Kankuro made a cutting gesture with one hand. "When they say stuff about Gaara it's bad enough, but I can sort of understand where they're coming from. But no one talks about my sister that way. No one!"

"It was pretty harsh," Shikamaru added.

Kankuro growled an agreement. He gave Shikamaru an appraising look, "That was a pretty good move. How did you manage that? There weren't that many shadows in there."

"Sure there were. The lights were low and there were candles. All that mood lighting makes lots of shadows," Shikamaru shrugged. "But how about you? That was no puppet."

"Humph, it was a little wooden table. I've been manipulating stuff like that since I was a kid. What I really wanted to do was belt that guy."

"That only makes it worse Kankuro," Temari's fan reappeared in her hand and she smacked her brother with it. "You never think. Idiot."

"Ouch! Hey!"

Temari turned to Shikamaru. He braced himself, but Temari did not hit him. She opened the fan and fluttered it in front of her face. It was weird, but she seemed to be blushing again.

"Shikamaru it was sweet of you to defend me like that but really not necessary."

Kankuro's eyes went wide; he made a strangled sound of disbelief, "Sweet! What the hell, Temari!"

Temari snapped her fan shut. She glared at her brother.

"He doesn't go looking for fights."

"No shit. Neither do I!"

"Oh, pfft, you don't. This is the sort of thing that kept you off the candidate list for jounin promotion, Kankuro. Do you want to stay a chunin forever?"

Kankuro went red, "Don't start with that again! Just because you're on the list, doesn't mean you'll get promoted. Almost no one does the first time around."

They started to argue about it. Temari used her fan to poke Kankuro whenever she made a point.

Shikamaru sighed. He wondered if he would be able to just fade into the gathering dusk and leave them to their argument. He decided that it would not be a good idea, it looked pretty painful to be smacked by that fan, it was small but made of something very sturdy and Temari knew how to use it.

He let his eyes wander around, surveying the ground outside the restaurant. He sighed again. Just so troublesome, he had just been so close to getting away without incident.

Shikamaru cleared his throat, "Uh, can we maybe…"

They had been followed from the restaurant. The guy who had insulted Temari was leading a group of five guys. His expensive clothes were covered in food and drink.

"Heh, bring it on."

"Kankuro! Not here, not in the street."

"Such a drag," Shikamaru muttered.

There was no way around it, he was about to be part of a street brawl. He thought of all the explaining he was going to have to do and groaned. He could not believe Kankuro was ready to take these guys on, he did not have his puppets with him, Temari was not dressed for fighting, and Shikamaru did not have his normal load of weapons.

The restaurant was not on a busy street, but the commotion of a fight would be sure to attract people. That was what probably worried Temari; shinobi brawling with regular folks would be sure to cause trouble. And Shikamaru had learned that the village of the Sand already had enough trouble. They were still having difficulty maintaining their status as a shinobi village. They had yet to replace their Kazekage and the daimyo was pushing to take over.

"Kankuro, at least go someplace a little more…" Shikamaru gestured at an alley.

"Fine. Whatever," Kankuro headed towards the alley, confident that he would be followed.

Temari and Shikamaru hurried after him and the guys from the restaurant followed after. It turned out not to be an alley, but a passage that led to a small park. Shikamaru was surprised; it was green with trees and a fountain; something unexpected in the middle of the dusty village.

Shikamaru waited until they were all in the park, fortunately it was deserted. He flipped a paper seal at the entrance they had just used.

"What was that?" Temari asked.

"Shadow distraction. It will encourage people not to come in here."

"That's a good idea. Stay out of this Shikamaru. You don't need to get into trouble."

Shikamaru sighed; it was too late for that. If was so unfair, he never went looking for it, but trouble and annoyance always found him.

"So troublesome."

Kankuro had stopped and was eyeing the guys, a fierce grin spreading across his face. Four of them were in a loose semi-circle around him while the other two approached Temari and Shikamaru.

"What's so funny, filth?"

"Your face, asshole. Apologize to my sister and it just might stay that way."

The leader sneered at Kankuro and made a gesture to one of his companions. The guy stepped forward, he was a little older than most of the group and he was quite large. Shikamaru wondered if he might be a bodyguard.

"Teach this filth some respect, Goro."

"Yes, Daisuke-san."

Kankuro sneered at his bulky opponent. The puppeteer was tall and strongly built but Shikamaru was not sure of his close combat skills. He had never seen Kankuro do anything without his puppets.

"Is he going to be okay?" he murmured to Temari.

She nodded, "Yes. You should pay attention here. It's getting too dark for you to do anything." She reached into her sleeve and removed a second fan. "Just stay out of my way."

Shikamaru started to protest, no way was he going to be protected by a girl in a kimono. Temari flipped open the second fan and fluttered it so it rattled. The edge was metal and looked very sharp.

"Oh, man. You guys should run."

One of the guys laughed, "Or what? She'll hit us with those little things."

"Well, yeah," Shikamaru said.

At the same moment Temari moved, flicking her wrist. The fan was too small to create her normal wind blast, but it still knocked one of the guys flying. The second guy yelped, Temari had folded her fan immediately after her strike and had hit him with it. The sharp edge of her second fan whisked under his chin, just short of cutting him and freezing him in his tracks.

"Do as he says and leave. Now."

The guy opened his mouth to protest and Temari twitched her hand so that the fan made a small cut on his throat. Shikamaru made a mental note never to get Temari mad at him when she was holding one of those little fans; the big one was bad enough. The guy began to back away, his eyes on Temari the entire time. After he had turned tail and run, Temari switched her stare to the second guy. He made a funny squeaking noise. He had been knocked into the shade of a tree by Temari's blast and after he had gotten up Shikamaru had placed a bind on him.

"If I let you go, you are going to run, right?"

The guy nodded as much as he could and Shikamaru released him.

There was a yell and a crash nearby. Goro was lying on the ground, hands clutched between his legs. Kankuro had already engaged a second guy while Daisuke and another guy looked on. Kankuro sidestepped a blow and then elbowed the guy, when he doubled over Kankuro drove his knee into the guy's gut. He whirled around and kicked Goro again; he was trying to rise to his feet. Shikamaru saw that his worries about Kankuro had been unfounded. The puppeteer was apparently an experienced and skilled brawler.

Daisuke made a gesture to the fourth guy, "Get him, Toshi."

Toshi nodded and withdrew a knife from his sleeve.

"Kankuro watch out!" Temari started forward, raising her fan.

Daisuke reached into his own sleeve, produced a knife, and threw it at Temari.

Kankuro glanced away from his new opponent and cursed. Toshi took advantage of the opening, lunging at Kankuro's midsection. The puppeteer tried to catch his wrist and twist away from the strike.

Shikamaru's eyes went wide. So bad, just so bad, he thought. Daisuke had moved too quickly for Shikamaru to get a bind or anything on him. He was not sure if Temari could deflect the knife with her small fans. He tried to get himself between Temari and the knife; his mesh shirt and vest would deflect some of the blow. There was a hissing noise and a wall of sand sprang up right in front of Shikamaru's nose. The knife buried itself to the hilt in the sand.

Daisuke gasped. Before he could move, sand had crawled up his legs and over his hips, rooting him to the spot. He looked around for help. Goro was still down and his other companion had run off. Toshi was still struggling with Kankuro for possession of the knife. As he watched, the big shinobi threw Toshi to the ground and then stomped on the hand that held the knife. Toshi tried to scramble to his feet but Kankuro's knee slammed into his face and he dropped back to the ground, groaning.

Kankuro turned to Daisuke, wiping at a cut on his face. His teeth and eyes gleamed in the dusk. You never really thought of Kankuro as scary, at least not as compared to Gaara and Temari, but Shikamaru knew that he would never underestimate him again.

"You're in trouble now, asshole," he rumbled. "Apologize to my sister and maybe, just maybe, I'll get him to let you go."

Daisuke cursed at him and struggled to get free. Sand started to climb higher, over his stomach and up his chest.

Temari looked around, trying to find her other brother. "Gaara, don't!"

"There he is." Shikamaru had spotted the familiar silhouette on one of the buildings that surrounded the park.

"Bastard!"

"Yeah, well maybe, but you're still going to apologize. And I can assure you, when the sand gets up around your nose and mouth, breathing becomes real interesting."

Daisuke cursed at Kankuro again and then coughed on a mouthful of sand.

"Alright, alright." Daisuke glared at Kankuro. He ground out an apology to Temari. The sand flowed away from him. He backed away from the three shinobi and helped his remaining companions to their feet. They all kept darting nervous glances in Gaara's direction.

Kankuro watched them go, lip curled into the familiar sneer.

"Assholes and morons," he muttered to himself. He looked up. "Thanks for the save Gaara. And just for the record: I didn't start it."

"Kankuro, you idiot!" Temari advanced on him, one fan poised to smack him. Then her eyes went wide. "Kankuro, you're hurt!"

Kankuro touched his fingers to a rip in his shirt at his side, they came away covered in something dark, "It's just a scratch. Hey! Don't touch me!" He batted at her reaching hand.

Temari bullied him over to the fountain and they bound up the wound as best they could with a pocket handkerchief and some strips of cloth from the bottom of Kankuro's shirt.

"We need something better," Temari reached for the sleeve of her kimono to tear off a strip of material.

"Hell no! It's nothing. Besides if I let you ruin that thing, I'll never hear the end of it. If we go this way there's a good view of the moonrise and it's on the way home." He pointed to another exit. "And we can avoid those assholes in case they decide to try and ambush us."

Temari frowned at her brother, "We should get you looked at."

"It's nothing Temari. I am not giving you any reason to blame me for not getting to this crazy damn date."

"Then you shouldn't have started a fight."

"I didn't start anything, damn it. Sure did finish it though." He grinned. "C'mon, it'll be past Nara's bedtime soon."

Kankuro started walking. Temari made an exasperated noise. She looked at Shikamaru.

"Let's go." She held her arm out.

Shikamaru sighed, it had been one bothersome night and it was still not over. He looked up and nodded at Gaara. Gaara did not unfold his arms or say anything, but Shikamaru thought he saw an answering nod.

"Well. I'm waiting."

He sighed again, stepped to Temari, took her arm, and began to walk. Kankuro had stopped and was waiting for them. He let them pass so he was walking behind them.

"You should go ahead so I can keep my eye on you two." He grinned. "Don't want you getting up to anything. It's only the first date after all."

Temari made a face at her brother and brandished a fist at him. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. He wanted to say that this had been his first and last date, but that would be a bad idea. After all, he had one beautiful and scary kunoichi beside him, one large and scary shinobi behind him, and… His eyes wandered up to the rooftop, but Gaara had disappeared. All he could see was the clear desert night sky. Cold, beautiful…and absolutely cloudless.


End file.
